


a heady pull

by emblems



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Relationship Study, honestly not sure what else to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-08 21:53:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7775065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emblems/pseuds/emblems
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>no, no one anticipated a reality where robin and chrom weren’t by each other’s side in the field.</p>
<p>but, then, it was impossible to anticipate lucina.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a heady pull

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kalloway](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/gifts).



the way robin and chrom moved on the battlefield—as a duo, as one unit, as sword and tome, as brain and leader—is a remarkable thing to witness. kept oiled and polished, they can carve a path through near any crowd of enemies—undead or otherwise.

it’s not something years of practice or training could replicate, either, not something that just anyone could reproduce. no, this was something special, something unique—something wholly theirs.

they revel in it, too. falchion comes stronger, moves faster. spells arc from robin’s fingertips as easy and naturally as breathing, sparks and flames and wind leaving a trail in his wake.

they have each other’s backs, and so they can spend more time looking ahead. it’s a system that works, and works well. there was a period of time robin considered pairing chrom with someone else, thinking it would shake things up, would help keep chrom on his toes, but—the tactical risks of different partners outweighed the benefits of keeping things the same.

no, no one anticipated a reality where robin and chrom weren’t by each other’s side in the field.

but, then, it was impossible to anticipate lucina.

robin first notices when lucina—who at the time they only knew as marth—fights alongside them to defend emmeryn. he notices the line of her back and the grip on her sword, up close in a way he couldn’t have been when chrom fought marth in regna ferox.

everything about it strikes a chord, draws robin’s eye, summons the familiar pull in his gut whenever he and chrom are on the battlefield together.

distracted as he is by an assassination plot, he doesn’t give it much thought. afterward, caught up with the idea of war and then in war itself, he allows himself to think of more press

when “marth” becomes lucina, when lucina becomes a shepherd, it becomes much harder to ignore the draw. at least now, though, there’s a reason one can point to, a justification.

he does something unprecedented not long after lucina joins them: he deliberately assigns chrom and lucina to operate as a unit during their next skirmish.

he half-expects chrom to resist or object, but instead there’s a curiosity in his eyes—barely noticeable behind an expression robin can only describe as _competitive_. 

only in the exalt family, he thinks to himself.

and so he allows himself to watch from the sidelines, watch chrom and lucina dispatch set after set of valmese soldiers, falchion and falchion ringing out across the battlefield and marking a path unlike any robin has ever seen.

he knew, when he did this, that the results would be in some way spectacular—positively or negatively so.

he’s grateful, obviously, that it ended up being the former.

what truly piques his interest, though, is the why.

lucina got her fighting prowess from her father—that much is obvious. her technique, her form, even the set of her shoulders makes her a swordsman carved in her father’s image.

what differs is the way in which her caution colors her movements—not hesitance, but an element of calculation.

it’s not something she could have learned from chrom, that much is certain.

wanting to know more, he decides to experiment further, pairing himself up with lucina this time, wanting to see what it felt like to fight alongside someone of chrom’s caliber without fighting alongside chrom. 

what he finds is that irrevocable pull he feels with chrom and with marth and with lucina seems to grow stronger by the day, growing more and more the longer he spends time in their vicinity—observing, watching, learning.

fighting alongside her is, in many but not all respects, like fighting alongside her father. his tenacity, his drive, his ability all shine through in her, visible in her eyes and palpable every time she roars onto the field. but there’s also that air of calculation, the knowledge that any swordstroke could be her last that somehow manages to enable her and push her forward, rather than paralyzing her. 

he wonders what had to happen for her to have that awareness (later, of course, he learns everything, and he understands more than he ever could have wanted to).

it’s captivating and enthralling, to be so close to that energy—he’s known this ever since that first battle he fought alongside chrom. it’s the same feeling; he’s not sure he’ll ever be used to it.

that it doesn’t go away when they’ve returned to camp, that he feels it when lucina passes by him, feels the energy double when she joins him and chrom by the fire—

it’s downright heady.

no, no one expected a situation where robin and chrom could be as effective with others as they were with each other.

but no one could have expected lucina.


End file.
